The invention relates to a novel body pack which permits the transfer of heat for therapeutic purposes.
It has long been accepted medical practice to apply a cool element to the surface of a body in the vicinity of an injury. In the former case, so called "ice pack" reduces debilitating swelling. On the other hand, a "hot pack" accentuates the healing process. It has often been a problem to securely hold a hot or cold pack to the body for a period of time. Also, adapting a heat transferring pack for securement to multiple portions of the body has long been a problem in the medical field.
Many devices have been proposed which improve on the hot water bottle and ice compress. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,381,025 shows a hot or cold pack which wraps around a portion of the body by the use of hook and pile fasteners. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,678,936, 3,889,684, 4,190,054, and 4,592,358, describe therapeutic hot or cold packs having compartments that are fastened to a body by the use of straps.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,585,003 describes an ice pack which utilizes stretchable foam material and hook and pile connectors to hold the ice pack to the neck region of a body. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,347,848 and 4,556,055 employ absorbent material within an ice pack to gather condensation which is produced by the ice pack.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,736,769 shows a cooling device which is sandwiched between two flexible walls having different heat transfers rates.
A hot/cold pack which solves the problem encountered in the prior art would be a great advance in the medical field.